


CRUX

by orphan_account



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Autism Spectrum, BAMF! Michelangelo, Claustrophobia, Dark Character, Dubious Morality, F/M, Family Issues, Gen, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Multi, Polyamory, Saving the World, Soul Bond, Teen Angst, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 17:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11166735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Even before Hamato Yoshi left Japan, he knew that whoever his children were,  they'd have an amazing destiny.And he was right.His sons had already taken on Mega Shredder, defeated aliens and in fact, saved the world many times over.But no one could have prepared them for their true destinies...One last battle. One last time.





	1. Chapter 1

When he had still been in Japan, when Oruku Saki was still the kind passionate young man, he had been told about them..

The Yōkai.

Alien, graceful, haunting, beautiful creatures of the spirit world that enjoyed twisting the rules of his own.

He had even spoken to one.

An oak tree with a knarled face of lines and wood coupled with an ancient voice of rasp and knowledge.

It called itself a Kodama and it was just after he had been doubting the existence of Yōkai in the first place.

Needless to say, it was a harrowing, humbling, experience.

It warned him of days to come and things to fear - of aliens from other worlds, the children he'd gain and lose, the pain of being a teacher.

It spoke of the destiny of four great ones that he'd teach.

Of artists, of aliens.. Of a great darkness.

He was only half-surprised when it all came true.

°

The four warriors were his children gained.

Leonardo, the accepted eldest and leader, strived for some ideal that only he could see, punishing himself for minute mistakes, pushing himself as blue as his mask.

Donatello, his second son and in command, the agreed upon technician, the genius more graceful in mind than body but no less as fierce as his brothers when put to the test. He shared the same trait as the eldest - pushing him to purple exhaustion and back.

Raphael, the third, the shield, the protector. He fought to wield his passion, often losing the battle, and punishing himself for it in the depths of isolation and lashing out at those who loved him. Red was his rage, his cross to bare. And red was the blood spilled of those who dared.

Michaelangelo, his youngest and never his least, his eternal optimistic nature had often grated at the darker natures of his brothers, coming off naive or childish in light of terrible news but he had merely been trying to lighten their spirits.

It had almost killed his.

Orange was his colour, bright as the summer sun, and it had almost been lost.

Even now, he watched his aura for any sudden dips in colour or simple emptiness.

But it held, the depression his son went through, held at bay as his other sons became more understanding and careful in their words.

And his son's spiritual senses blossomed.

He said he spoke to another Michaelangelo, a "dude" with fox tails as tall as himself and today was the first time they'd meet.

Mikey's spirituality had advanced that far.

Sometimes he still marveled at how little his other sons believed in their younger one, especially Leonardo, but he understood.

Mikey was their light.

And he could not be allowed to go out.

°

Even though they had accomplished all that the Kodoma had said, the old tree remained insistent that he continue with their training.

"The moment your guard is down, Yoshi, is the moment the darkness will consume you."


	2. Lonely?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koi and the O'Neils encounter a Yōkai who has some pretty important news for her.

°

Sometimes if she tried hard enough, she could forget about the claustrophobia.

The walls were never far enough to mimic the expanse of her skies and the spirits never smiled at her.

Nor did these people.

Sticking close to the O'Neils, she suppressed the urge to bare her teeth and hiss at the hostility she felt.

They hadn't changed a bit, her people..

And yet not hers.

Smoothly interrupting the man who had been about to con the family for the mere crime of not fully understanding,

"If you are as idiotic as your father, continue to test those who are ill-prepared."

Stepping back into the shadows, she runs a slender finger along her throat threateningly as he stutters out a fairer price for a plane ticket to their home.

"What did you say to him?"

As always, from the moment they met, April questioned the what, how and why.

In another life, she could have been her adorable handmaiden, Aoi.

In fact, in another life that was possible.

But she couldn't tell...

And Aoi was long dead.

"I merely reminded him of past mistakes."

°

If she thought about it long enough, she could hypothetically come up with a way to dismiss the O'Neil family.

Make them leave her be.

But it had been so long since contact with anyone, anything other than -

She left that train of thought to crash and burn as she moved closer to the one called April's warmth.

Though normally she would have despised the nekomata treatment from anyone but-

Another train to crash.

She needed it.

Churring deep in her throat, she rubs her face against April's hand suppressing the urge to whine as it limply falls away.

Humans...

Always needing to do boring things like sleep.

And right in the middle of a good cuddle!

Growling at nothing, at the way that the shadows jumped for her, she stretches - another luxury - and stands.

Planes are tiny.

Nowhere in particular to be, she slithers over the big human's knees and presses her face to the tiny circle of sky.

If she had her other wing..

Growling as her shoulder blade gives an angry taunt, the Leviathan - even now - still mocks her loss.

~~_The flightless dragon, aren't you powerless, little one?_ ~~

~~_Have you remembered what you are supposed to be afraid of yet?_ ~~

~~_Have you remembered who it was who locked you in here with me?_ ~~

~~_Why don't you?_ ~~

She'd kill him.

_Why don't you?_

She couldn't..

°

Suppressing her urges like this was going to get old really fast but she had no choice.

Humans were already closed-minded with their own kind, what of the Yōkai in their midst, how would they react?

Hunt them down? Rid themselves of the threat?

"What kind of monster are you?"

Or perhaps welcome a new monster into their midst as one of them?

It was the sharp taste of confusion and the malice of a corrupt Yōkai that alerted her to the danger but exhaustion stilled her.

She wanted to know.

The human woman slams into her suddenly, their bodies rocketing to the chill of the ceramic, no, plastic floor as voices crowd into her head.

"Is she okay?"

"My God-"

"Oh my God-"

"What are you?! Why are you like this?"

Groggily opening her eyes to the woman trying to strangle her, ignoring the crowd of other humans, she doesn't even bother to try and remove her hands as she looks up at the frightened seer,

"What do you see?"

"You should be _dead_!"

Slamming her back into the floor, the woman howls her anguish and Koi lets it all happen, her eyes focused on the Yōkai of Sight.

The floating eyeball merely blinks at her, uncaring of the woman he had just driven to madness so long as she sees him.

"Your head, your heart, where's your other wing?"

Her attention diverted back to the woman, she gently scrapes her claws against the soft skin of her cheek and looks at the bead of saltwater she had caught.

"The crowd of people doesn't matter, Anna. Why do you cry?"

"I-I-"

"Deep breaths, my wounds are not healing because I am weak at the moment, take deep breaths."

She couldn't demonstrate as the weight on her chest shifted but the human calmed down enough for her to reach for the suitcase unhindered.

Something metal.

"Deep breaths, Anna. Whatever he's shown you has a logical explanation.."

Grasping the zipper tightly before ripping it off, she smoothly shoves Anna off before hurling the knife into the pupil of Mętsuki, rolling with the woman as he plummeted to the floor with a crack.

Smiling flirtatiously at the sole person taking pictures as she stalks past, she casts a glamour on both him and his stupid little camera to forget this ever happened.

Lithely ducking under the thin ropy muscle that served as a connection to the host and the only way she could banish him for now, she quickly reaches up to snatch it out of the air.

 _NOOOOO_!

Strangely enough as everyone, even the Anna she had saved, ran for the exit-

Even as her father tugged her desperately, April remained unmoving and statuesque with her eyes shut-

Turning back to the shrieking eyeball, she swiftly yanks out the knife she had conjured, the hole for the zipper rather useful in all the clear fluid.

Speaking the language of the eye, she snarls,

_What are you doing here? Who sent you?_

Cutting off the tip of the muscle as it came for her, she shears through the top of his delicate eyelid before stepping back to examine her work.

_Care to talk now? I've got quite a bit of anger I'd enjoy sharing with you~_

Her own laugh startles her, dark and cold, but nothing in light of Mętsuki's own, as dramatic as she remembered, his voice wheezy,

_Someone dear to you, my dear, dear Dragon_

_Name?_

...

He hesitates, like he's lying, so she reaches up and grips an eyelash, kicking the wound for force and sends him upright into the wall.

It was a good thing she hadn't, in fact, lost her mind.

If not, the way her lungs burned for relief, the way that her right wing fluttered frantically for its balance , the pain gnawing at her skull, would have surely been the breaking point.

And plus, she'd probably not have planned this out.

 _Tell. Me_.

He was still as terrified as he had been when she was at full strength but she could still see the cracks, the what-ifs he would spread if she showed mercy or failed to banish him in his entirety.

She was pretty sure that he'd foam at the mouth to know that his stalling was actually doing her a favor, allowing her to gather what remained of her strength.

.. _Your brother, Ain_

Her heart stopped.

 _What_.

_Ain awakens, Koi. And so will.._

_Apophis_.

 _Yessss. And together you will purge this world of its evil_.

She stumbles back as he rises, too much like the Leviathan for her to properly mask her fear,

_You've grown weak, soft, lonely...don't you know that your brother longs for you to be at his side once more?_

Weak.

Soft.

Lonely?

No, she screamed into silence as she made the symbols in the air, no.

Her scream echoed in tandem with Mętsuki's as the banishment went wild, the power not only an instant death for the eyeball but a very painful darkness for her.

Lonely didn't begin to cover it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Koi is half-Japanese, half-Egyptian - thus the reference to the typical Japanese xenophobia and the Egyptian Apocalypse - Apophis.


	3. CRUCIAL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koi comes face to face with despair and... Mikey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just confirm that it is literally the most beautiful thing in the world to have one of your favourite writers like your story? 
> 
> BrightLotusMoon is an amazing person and if you're reading this, you should definitely go check out her Cold Fire Rising series and Mikey the Lifeguard. It's what got me into this fandom.

"You're going to get yourself arrested in that outfit of yours, K."  
  
[Koi means ' _selfish love_ ', her mother's love, and she'd always be fighting against it in every aspect... But-]

"I like it."

And she did.

It wasn't Shade Armor in the slightest but it was spidersilk and damn near as flexible and plus, it was black.

So almost as good.

[Except Donnie had made it for her and she had promised, promised to-]

What was another broken promise?

You said you'd stay, that you'd keep them _safe_ , that you'd love them.

Why did you fail in everything except where it benefited you?

[That was Leo screaming at her again.]

She was still confused on the whole benefitting herself aspect but that didn't matter-

"Koi. I don't think you should be running around New York like that."

Looking up in the mirror at herself, her eyes snagging at her now pure white hair, she pushes down the sorrow, despair, the emptiness, [the why can't she just fucking _die_ already] and smiles, hopeful and true [lie] at April.

In the mirror, she sees a bakemono.

[A monster, the burning town whispers-]

She is undeserving of the title of Dragon.

But in the depths of the ink armor covering her skin, stretching over her exposed form and scratching over her scales in a way that the shade never would have, devouring her face behind a hasty smattering of silver -

She hopes, against hope, that she is still a protector.

°

When she had hit her head in the airport, it had been as much of a blessing as [don't think his name _don't you dare_ -] killing her would have been.

The Leviathan may have taken several things-

[her memories, her true power, her wing. All of it meant to unbalance her and make her mad]

[ _it was working_ ]

But he had left three things.

Her wits.

Her knowledge of martial arts.

And her considerable charisma.

Hitting her head had just forced one of those contacts - Aika - to interfere and keep her from accidentally killing herself.

After the Naga had healed the few wounds that she could, she had given her the obsidian tantō and armor that she wore before delivering her to the steadily panicking O'Neils.

They were considerably less "freaked" than other humans would have been but Kirby still fretted for the first few days when she slept in their oven.

It was much smaller than what she was used to but she could smell the impending cold and there was no way on Earth that she'd hibernate now.

There was just too much to do.

°

Creeping along the edge of the building, she tests her weight on the roof, making sure that it won't collapse before risking a leap.

Whatever had been stirring up panic had to be some sort of bird Yōkai... She honestly prayed that it wasn't an Itsumade.

[Or a Kurara. She wasn't in the mood to wash the blood out today]

Jumping rooftops was almost like flying..

Except the weightlessness always ended far too early and even bound to her back, her wing desperately fluttered.

Rolling her shoulders as she peers over the edge, her first instinct is to close her eyes.

[Actually it was to scream]

[but who didn't scream in the face of despair?]

Forcing her legs to stand up out of the crouch, she quickly hits the deck the moment that she hears it shifting.

Since she was pretty sure that the gods hate her existence, and the fact that New York didn't have nearly enough suffering to sustain an Itsumade, she knew that Itsumade had been sent for her specifically.

[The cold had always made her sloppy.]

She stepped back too quickly, a single stone shifting away, skittering softly yet deafening in the previously silent air.

Letting out an ear-piercing wail of children's voices that sends her mind back to that village that she had rescued Donnie from, the human face contorted like something horrific, it lunges for her spot on the rooftop.

Rolling out of its way, she kicks at its eyes, already on her feet and prepared to banish it by the time it comes for her...

But it ignores her with another wail.

Heading instead for a group of human [looking] boys... But they smell like turtles..

Pushing her curiosity aside and her body faster, she's almost pleasantly surprised when one of them pulls out a katana and tries to slash at the monster.

It would have worked had it been a blessed sword or had obsidian worked in but for his efforts, the itsumade barely paused.

Luckily, as Raphael had been fond of telling her, she had no pause button and plus, barely was like losing a thirty second head start-

So she had swept the boy up and away from the Yōkai and unceremoniously dumped him on a roof.

Helpfully declaring,

"You should stand back."

She slapped a seal onto its back, ducked into one of the alleys and waited.

BOOM-

The absolute force of the energy seal rocked the ground beneath her and pink flesh splattered the wall and she's very glad to have Phil on her side.

He was a devious one - odd for a Tengu but since when hadn't she collected odd?

Oddly colored diamonds, precious jewels like her Five, rare texts, rare-

"... MIKEY."

Oddly clear blue eyes are suddenly boring into her own and in a heartbreaking way, he reminds her of her Kitsu.

"Hello."

Her mask had deactivated with the shadows [this was the only dark she was unafraid of] and her own voice startled her.

[it was curiousity in there]

[ _like reacting to a familiar stranger you couldn't place_ ]

[there was _life_ in her voice.. And it startled her]

"... Hi! My name is Michelangelo Hamato but you can call me Mikey!"

Gods _no_. 

Not again. 

She's suddenly acutely aware of two things: he's wearing orange [and she'll focus on the other reason later] and the itsumade had been aware until 9:04.

The materials for a false death. 

"My bros over there think that you're a bad guy but-"

Gently, pressing a finger to his lips, she shushes him.

"Pleased to meet you, Neteru. I am called Koi. I am a very bad guy as you have put it but that itsumade rises and I do not like needless death of innocents."

His eyes widen and shift from her finger to her face but he doesn't pull away.

[its much nicer than it should be to touch a complete stranger]

[she knows he's not] 

"Nod if you will not scream."

He nods and she pulls her finger away, drawing the tanto.

"I need to banish it but I also can't protect you and your... Bros? Bros as I do so. Please evacuate."

[she likes the word Bro]

[it reminds her of her own Aniki, Ain]

[he was always into what was new and interesting]

"Inter... Resting?"

Snapping her attention back to the regeneration of the beast, she slides into a stronger stance and responds.

"How long have you been awake to learn the tongue of Man?"

"Lit.. Tle Dragon. You miss your bro.. Ther, don't you?"

Ignoring the way that every damn Yōkai in America wants her to be with her brother and destroy the planet, she notes the way that it pauses, halting in its speech before seeing the hilt of the katana she missed.

Fast for a human [?] he had stabbed not slashed it and now its brain was damaged.

She had a penchant for honesty.

[And a penchant for quickly drawing banishment seals while the enemy was distracted]

"Yes, I miss Ain. But not so much at the cost of humanity."

"He will spare your pets."

Good grief.

[had she ever sounded that condescending?]

[no.. She did it out of love]

And it was with more than a little vindictiveness that she slammed her power into the seal.

[and more than a little sadness that she headed to the O'Neils, whispering,]

"Too late, Ain... You and I already killed them."


End file.
